Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.

Los Angeles, California 90095-1575

Abstract: The Hollywood studio strike began on March 12, 1945 when the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU) went on strike to protest the
studios' delay in granting a contract renewal for interior decorators despite opposition from the larger, more established
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Operators of the United States and Canada (IATSE).
The collection consists of materials dealing with the studio strike of 1945 and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada (IATSE).

Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

Language:
English.

Administrative Information

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The Hollywood studio strike began on March 12, 1945 when the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU) went on strike to protest the
studios' delay in granting a contract renewal for interior decorators despite opposition from the larger, more established
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Operators of the United States and Canada (IATSE).
The collection consists of materials dealing with the studio strike of 1945 and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada (IATSE).

Biographical Narrative

The Hollywood studio strike began on March 12, 1945 when the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU), consisting of nine unions
and nearly ten thousand workers led by Herbert Sorrell, went on strike to protest the studios' delay in granting a contract
renewal for interior decorators despite opposition from the larger, more established International Alliance of Theatrical
Stage Employees and Moving Picture Operators of the United States and Canada (IATSE). In early October 1945, CSU concentrated
its pickets at Warner Brothers; a series of fights ensued and police, studio guards, and IATSE forced the strikers to retreat.
At the end of October, the National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of CSU, and the studios and IATSE gave way. In early
1946, CSU tried to negotiate a new wage contract with the studios, but disagreements lead to another strike in the summer
of 1946. IASTE sent their employees to keep the studios open, provoking more armed clashes. The Screen Actors Guild and 24
other Hollywood unions denounced the strike as a jurisdictional dispute, affirming their right to cross the picket lines.
CSU's failure to close the studios led to a vote in October 1947 by the painters union which broke the strike; CSU disintegrated
and faded away.

Scope and Content

Collection consists of materials dealing with the Hollywood studio strike of 1945 and the International Alliance of Theatrical
Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada (IATSE). Includes newspaper clippings
from the
Hollywood Sun and the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU) news, mimeographed statements to union members, correspondence, ephemera, and a
copy of the IATSE proceedings with taped reminiscences of Gene Mailes.